14 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Febbuar y, 1914 



Every garden of reasonable size requires the wheel 

 hoe with changeable attachments 



sum total of your record, compared the 

 following fall and winter with some seed 

 catalogues, will give you opportunity for 

 some mighty interesting study. 



So much for indoor records. There 

 should also be some records in the garden 

 in connection with the various rows. 

 Secure some garden stakes or "labels" as 

 they are called, from your local seedsman 

 or at a hardware store. They come one 

 foot long, one inch wide and painted. Before 

 taking your seeds into the garden make 

 out one label for each variety. Put on the 

 label the name of sort and date of planting 

 as shown in the illustration. Stick this 

 label at the head of each row after the row 

 is opened and before you sow your seeds. 

 The rest of the record is to be kept in your 

 book. 



Later in the season, when, for instance, 

 a row of beans is exhausted, and you plan 

 to put that row to turnips, the back of the 

 label may be utilized for the name and 

 date of planting of this succession crop. 

 Where the same row is utilized three times 

 in the course of a season, a second label 

 may be pressed into service. Treated in 

 that fashion, each row will have its history 

 attached to it at the end of the season and 

 the note book has the complete details. 



Another type of wheel cultivator with cultivating 

 blades, used also as weeders 



Starting the Hotbeds Going— By Albert E.Wilkinson, 



ALL THE LITTLE DETAILS OF MANAGEMENT THAT MEAN SUCCESS IN EARLIER 

 CROPS — HOW TO HANDLE THE HEATING MATERIAL— FILLING THE BEDS 



New 

 York 



SOME time between February 15th to 

 the first of March near New York 

 City (toward the South earlier and 

 farther North later), the sash should 

 be placed over the hotbed pits, in order 

 to thaw out all ice and snow that may 

 have collected during the winter. At the 

 same time, secure the manure for these 

 pits. If the pit requires eighteen inches 

 of manure in depth and is a two-sash 

 affair, three-quarters of a cord of fresh 

 horse manure will be sufficient. Manure 

 from highly fed horses which have been 

 bedded with straw, especially rye straw, 

 is the best. Place this near the bed in 

 a square pile, having a flat top. Turn 

 the pile in two or three days. If it is then 

 fermenting and hot throughout the pile, 

 it may be placed in the hotbed pit. Fork 

 into the pit six or eight inches of the man- 

 ure. Tramp it down, especially at the 

 corners. Place four to six inches more in 

 the pit. Repeat the tramping and keep 

 the manure level. Throw in another layer 

 of manure and tramp. Repeat until all 

 the manure is used. The top of the manure 

 in the pit should be quite level and even 

 from the tramping. From four to six 

 inches of good garden soil or composted 

 soil should now be spread over the manure, 

 the top of the soil being level and left 

 ready for seed planting. Place the sash 

 over the hotbed. At first, the manure 

 will give off a great volume of heat, some- 

 times lasting a day or two. Keep the 



sash up for ventilation during the daytime. 

 Place a thermometer in the top soil at the 

 end of the first day. When the tempera- 

 ture of the top soil has come down to 85 

 degrees, you can begin to plant lettuce, 

 radish, spinach, beet, carrot, and turnip seed. 



Make a furrow in the soil by pressing the 

 edge of a board or sharp stick into the soil. 

 Do not make the furrow too deep, half 

 an inch is sufficient. Lettuce, radish, 

 spinach, beet, and turnip seed may be 

 strewn along in this furrow sparingly, not 

 closer than one-quarter inch. If the seed 

 is guaranteed high in germinating power, 

 one-half inch is close enough. Carrots 

 may be strewn thickly, as they are gen- 

 erally poor in germinating power. Cover 

 the seed with soil, so that all is level. Take 

 a flat board and press the soil down against 

 the seed. If the soil is dry, water the 

 same with the hose (fine nozzle) or the 

 sprinkling can. Replace the sash. 



During the daytime the bed will need 

 some ventilation. This may be given by 

 using a small board cut stepwise and placing 

 this board under one end of the sash. The 

 ventilators should be placed on the side 

 of the bed away from the direction of the 

 wind, that is, if the wind is blowing from 

 the south, place the ventilating stick under 

 north end of sash. Just how much to 

 ventilate is learned only by experience. 

 However, there are certain facts which 

 may help an amateur to become familiar 

 with proper ventilating. 



1. On sunny days the beds need more 

 ventilation than on cloudy ones. 



2. Never allow water to condense on the 

 underside of the glass. This is a sign that 

 ventilation is needed. 



3. Watch the thermometers. A tempera- 

 ture between 65 and 85 is best. If ap- 

 proaching 85 or more, give ' increased 

 ventilation. If tending toward 65 or lower, 

 give less ventilation, or close sash. 



4. Don't open too early in the morning, 

 nor keep open too late at night. Nine 

 A. m. to four p. m. is about right for the 

 early spring days. However, use common- 

 sense. If a little air is needed through a 

 warm night, give the same. 



5. On days of sunshine and clouds, 

 where it is first one, then the other, give 

 a medium amount of ventilation. 



During extremely cold nights, the beds 

 may need some other protection than the 

 sash, unless double glass sash is used. 

 Straw mats, old carpets, burlap bags, and 

 other material may be used as covering 

 over these sash. The ends and sides of 

 the bed should also receive attention re- 

 garding banking with soil or manure. 



Water the plants lightly with a fine 

 spray nozzle, but be thorough in your work. 

 Watering every other day thoroughly is 

 better than every day scantily. A ten- 

 quart pail of luke warm water to a sash 

 is none too much. Water in the morning 

 only during the cold spring months. 



